Mae West: Parody of Sex

MAE WEST’s plump, curvaceous body was a vital element in her comedy. Academics have emphasized that “excessive body is one of the qualities of female unruliness, suggesting that she is unwilling or unable to control her physical appetites.” Japanese film historian Mio Hatokai discusses how Hollywood publicists and fan zines responded to this “fatness” in 1933. This is Part 7 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: A new demand for “sex plays” in the theatres • •  
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Indeed Mae West and “Sex” attracted a female audience, but it may be that the demand for “sex plays,” rather than the appeal of the actress and the play itself, brought women to the theater.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: This account suggests that Mae West’s popularity among women during the Broadway days of the 1920s may not be fully attributable to her own appeal.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: But then how about her Hollywood success?

• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Did Mae West as Margy LaMont in “Sex” and later Mae West heroines on-screen show the same characteristics?
• • A crucial difference • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: In Marybeth Hamilton’s book about Mae West, When I'm Bad, I'm Better, the author argues that there is a crucial difference in the Mae West play “Sex,” that is, “there was not the least hint of an ironic joke,” meaning that it showed “no suggestions, either in the script or in Mae West’s performance, that she was parodying a sexy woman (actually, a sex worker in Montreal, Canada!) as well as playing one.”
• • Mae West: Importance of her physical self, her curvy body • • . . .  
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Saturday, 27 October 1934 • •
• • Picture-goer, Britain's publication for film fans, discussed the costumes designed for Mae West for her latest movie "Belle of the Nineties" in their issue dated for Saturday, 27 October 1934.
• • On Sunday, 27 October 1935 • •
• • Which actresses would be most popular in 1936? The L.A. Times weighed in on the merits of Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, and Jean Harlow in an article printed on Sunday, 27 October 1935.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • When Mae West saw a photo of the tall, debonair John Davis Lodge, she demanded him as her romantic lead for her next film, "She Done Him Wrong."  
• • But the Harvard grad did Mae West wrong, buckling to family pressure and pulling out of the project. John Davis Lodge was replaced by a promising newcomer named Cary Grant.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "That piano guy Liberace's got a lot of charm. I could go for someone that charming. I see good in every man.That's why I'm not married."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Box Office mentioned Mae West.
• • Fox Staff  to "Catherine" • •
• • Des  Moines — The 20th-Century Fox manager and sales force attended the Mae West show, “Catherine  Was  Great,” at the Shrine  Auditorium here.  
• • The new 20th-Century Fox film, “Royal Scandal,” starring Tallulah Bankhead, is based on the Mae West stage show. …
• • Source: Box Office; published on Saturday, 5 May 1945
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,852nd blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as Margy LaMont in "Sex" • •
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